Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Elephant Attacks Kill Five People In Separate Rampages In Eastern India

Two elephant attacks killed five people in back-to-back rampages Sunday and Monday, officials said.

A 40-year-old man walked out of his rural West Bengal state home Monday to find five elephants bearing down on him, said senior forest official Ajay Das. One of the elephants tossed Prakash Boyra in the air and trampled him to death as Bardhaman district villagers screamed and captured the attack on video.

Boyra’s death in Baghasole followed an even deadlier attack that killed four people elsewhere in the district Sunday, Das said.

One adult male elephant, an adult female and a calf trampled and gored the people fatally in Nashigram village before the male was tranquilized and the two others ran away, according to Das.

The male elephant later died.

Elephant attacks have increased as India’s population of 1.25 billion people flocks into cities and towns in the former jungle habitats and migration routes of the smaller Asian species of Earth’s largest land mammal.